General Theme

Below is a general consensus of what we're trying to accomplish here as far as an atmosphere for roleplay goes. Please read this over carefully, as it probably has something to do with your character in particular.

• The majority of the roleplay is set in Gotham City, the fictional city made up by DC Comics in which Batman is the main hero, yadda yadda. I assume if you're here you... should probably know that.
  
  
• To a lesser extent, the city of Metropolis and other places also have their own section for roleplay. This means that yes, characters such as Superman, Lex Luthor, etc. are allowed - the action is focused in Gotham but the rest of the DC Universe still exists outside of it. However, it'd be best if the characters can travel from city to city. For example, Batman has worked closely with Superman, and Batgirl has worked with Supergirl.
  
  
• For the most part we consider the comics from around the current point of the timeline to be the most canon (so the stuff around the mid-to-late '90s), as well as stuff like Batman: The Animated Series and the other mainline animated series. At the same time we've stolen a plotline from the Arkham series of video games, so of course we encourage incorporating things from there, though most of us prefer to use that more for the storyline and less for character histories and characterization. We do, however, like and even encourage players to pull inspiration from any of the (well-made) video games, movies, etc. as well as their own personal 'take' on their canon characters. However, we expect the character to, in the end, be clearly recognizable as themselves.
  
  
• When it comes to the Arkham series of video games, you do not need to be especially familiar with it to play here. If you do happen to be very familiar with the games, please click on the spoiler for an explanation of the differences between what we're doing here and the game. If you're not familiar with the game, note that the spoiler will contain, well, spoilers. But all you really need to know about it is the basic jist of the plotline for Arkham City, which we've stolen. A section of Gotham City has been walled off and all the inmates of Blackgate Prison and Arkham Asylum have been emptied into it, turning it onto a massive, open air prison full of the worse of the worst of Gotham called Arkham City. It's kind of like the No Man's Land plotline, or the Dark Knight Rises movie, but limited to a smaller section of the city and fewer (but not devoid of) innocent civilians.
  
  (Note: the last time I updated this document the forum was still transitioning to this plotline. Click here for the thread where I keep everyone on the same page about exactly what's currently happening with Arkham City.)
  
  SPOILER: Click to show
  Changes from the Batman: Arkham series:
  

  • Generally speaking, the other games in the Batman Arkham series are not considered strict canon, though you can draw inspiration from them for your character's profile if you wish. Instead a more comic-based history is preferred for Gotham generally. This isn't a big difference when it comes to the Origins game as that was quite some time in the past, and we're going to write our own future for Arkham City so we won't be be copying Arkham Knight. However, by making Arkham Asylum's events non-canon, our Arkham City is a little bit different.
    
  • Quincy Sharp was never the warden of the Arkham Asylum - instead he worked under Jeremiah Arkham. Before Arkham City was created it was Jeremiah Arkham who was running Arkham Asylum. The riot never happened, but the very poor track record of the asylum being able to hang on to their patients (something not blamed on the administration, which was honestly doing its best) was a contributing factor to the decision to create Arkham City.
    
  • Jeremiah Arkham is the director and overall leader of Arkham City, while Hugo Strange is primarily responsible for the daily operations - managing the city according to Jeremiah's direction (...well, as much as Hugo can follow directions...).
    
  • Titan was never created, so the Joker is as healthy as ever.
    
  • While Hugo Strange has the same goals here as he did in the game, here the Gotham City Council is not nearly as easy for him to persuade and he has to operate under the watchful eye of Jeremiah. While he believes that he may eventually get approval for Protocol 10, progress on that front is extremely slow - in fact, he doesn't dare propose the idea yet. First he has to better convince everyone that Arkham City has gotten so out of control that it represents a severe danger to the rest of Gotham. The delays are naturally quite frustrating to Ra's al Ghul, but Hugo hasn't actually failed yet so he's attempting to be patient. (...well, as patient as Ra's al Ghul can be about it...).
    
  • The above changes mean that Arkham City is actually more stable and likely to succeed than the video game version - it's unlikely that Batman would be able to charge in and fix up the situation in one night.
    
  • What, exactly, everyone else is doing is up to their respective players to decide - they can choose to have their character do the same things they were doing in the game or they can do something completely different. For example, Bruce Wayne doesn't need to get himself arrested and thrown into the prison (though I'm sure that he'd get in there as Batman somehow either way).
  
  
  
• On the subject of the comics: we do not consider the New 52 to be especially canon at this point, though it can be used as inspiration. We may transition more into it if the site's timeline eventually progresses to the point that it would be more sane to do so, but for now they've left way to many plot holes about this point in the timeline.
  
  
• Concerning the Justice League: we will assume here that the League has formed, but is not nearly as important to our main action as it is in say, the animated Justice League series. The vast majority of what they do doesn't happen in Gotham, after all, so that happens largely 'off camera'.
  
  
• As far as a timeline goes, we like to allow the players of each character to have as much freedom as possible to control what point their character is at in their careers and such without letting things turn into complete chaos. To that end, we use the Bat Family as a sort of anchor point - we get fairly specific about what they should be doing right now, while everyone else can do more what they please so long as it doesn't conflict with the point that the Bat Family is at. For example, Joker can't say that he's just meeting Batman now since Jason has been killed and Barbara has been shot. Some of the other villains can get away with way more timeline tampering just because, though they may have beaten up (or been beaten up by) a Bat Family member at some point, the wounds healed and didn't have a more lasting impact. If you want to know if the timeline tweak you want is okay or not, feel free to ask - what's allowed or not is determined by the head admin, but the other staff members usually know what will and won't fly.
  
  
• Since each player has so much freedom with their character's timeline, it's very important for you to check character profiles and to talk to the other players to make sure that you're on the same page about any shared history - especially if you're new and it looks like it's been a long time since the other player updated their profile. If you experience any snags because a character changed hands and what the new player wants to do with the character messes up what you're doing, let a staff member know and they'll help you figure out what to do.
  
  
• Where is the Bat Family in their timeline now? Well, when it comes to the animated series, we'd be at a point not long after the end of The New Batman Adventures. Comic wise, we're roughly around the time period of Knightfall. We do not recreate the plots from these things - unless you want to, but we mostly do our own thing - but that should give you some idea as to which characters we should and shouldn't be seeing and where they 'should' be in their timelines. So right now Bruce is Batman, Dick is Nightwing, Barbara is paralyzed and recently become Oracle, Jason is dead (though we let him come back 'too early' a lot when a player wants him), and Tim is still young Robin. Stephanie Brown is Spoiler. It is too early for Kate or Damien. (Seriously, do not ask about Damien!)
  
  
• We expect major characters to eventually transition through their major plot points, especially the ones that effect other characters - for example, we expect Tim Drake eventually to grow up and become Red Robin. We are, however, much more flexible about the specific details of those major plot events; if your character went through a transition one way in the comics but doing it that way on the forum is for some reason difficult or undesirable, we don't mind if you change the details as long as the eventual outcome is pretty much the same - we're not Nazis.

More may be added here as the admin sees fit. If you think something needs to be or should be added, please send me a PM. If you have a specific question, feel free to ask the staff.